Bears hold tight grip over Dalal Street in early noon deals

Bears were holding a tight grip over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty witnessing a sharp fall, tracking weak cues from other Asian markets after the Bank of Japan raised interest rates in an historic policy shift. Besides, heavy selling at all the sectors kept indices lower during the noon deals, with FMCG falling the most among major indices on the BSE. Traders were cautious amid a private report stating that India is unlikely to achieve the 8%-10% economic growth rates that China pulled off over the long term. It said economic progress in India is being hamstrung by a lack of infrastructure, and a low skilled workforce. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red, after Japan's industrial production contracted notably in January, though less than initially estimated. The final data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry showed that industrial production fell 6.7 percent on a monthly basis, in contrast to the 1.2 percent rebound in December. In the initial estimate, the rate of decline was 7.5 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72117.81, down by 630.61 points or 0.87% after trading in a range of 72007.35 and 72490.09. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.13%, while Small cap index was down by 0.89%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG down by 1.98%, IT down by 1.97%, Power down by 1.77%, TECK down by 1.61% and Utilities down by 1.55%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 1.37%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.80%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.53%, Tata Steel up by 0.40% and HDFC Bank up by 0.13%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 3.75%, TCS down by 3.01%, Indusind Bank down by 2.14%, HCL Tech. down by 1.95% and Power Grid down by 1.92% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest data has showed that India's outward foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments rose by 7.8 per cent to $3.05 billion year-on-year in February 2024 as compared to $2.83 billion in February 2023. However, sequentially, the figure jumped by 38.4 per cent from $2.19 billion in January 2024.

Outbound FDI, expressed as a financial commitment, comprises three components -- equity, loans, and guarantees. The equity commitments declined to $502.13 million in February 2024 from $776.79 million in February 2023. It was also lower than the $764.29 million recorded in January 2024.

The loan commitments declined to $251.08 million in February 2024 from $334.75 million in February 2023 and $306.59 million in January 2024. The guarantees issued during February 2024 jumped to $2.72 billion from $1.72 billion in February 2023 and $2.19 billion in January 2024.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 21846.50, down by 209.20 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 21808.45 and 21978.30. There were 8 stocks advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 1.35%, Bajaj Auto up by 0.93%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.73%, Hindalco up by 0.67% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 3.68%, BPCL down by 3.65%, Tata Consumer Products down by 3.63%, TCS down by 3.22% and Cipla down by 2.80% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 175.45 points or 1.05% to 16,561.67, Taiwan Weighted lost 22.65 points or 0.11% to 19,857.20, Shanghai Composite weakened 22.17 points or 0.72% to 3,062.76 and KOSPI dropped 29.67 points or 1.12% to 2,656.17, while Jakarta Composite gained 37.59 points or 0.51% to 7,340.04, Straits Times rose 2.04 points or 0.06% to 3,173.97 and Nikkei 225 surged 263.16 points or 0.66% to 40,003.60.